Dallan Ashton
"You know the only fun part in this line of work is when you finally crawl out of that dirty little hidey hole yer hiding in after all things have been said and done and realizing all of your body parts are still intact. Then you count friends who were not stupid enough to die and the dough you earned afterwards. Survive, check and count. Just keep rinsing and repeating that process and you can almost say you got it made, buddy." Dallan Ashton is a GYRO pilot and a member of PHANTOM. He was originally a soldier for the United States of America but went AWOL after his Captain betrayed his unit and left them to die. He then worked as a small-time mercenary in Europe for mob bosses and local warlords for five years until his recruitment into PHANTOM. Appearance Dallan has blonde hair that's always dirty and unkempt. He doesn't really care much about his outward appearance due to his extremely laid-back nature so he looks sloppy most of the time but he still finds time to shave for some reason. He always has a sour or lazy look on his face and he is never seen without his bomber jacket. Personality Dallan is a carefree and lazy individual who spend most of his time slacking around. Though given the right motivation or price, he can actually be a hard-worker who does his job efficiently. While not entirely cynical, he does possess a sardonic sense of humor that comes off really insulting or derisive sometimes. He's still very approachable since he's so laid-back and won't mind spending the rest of the day hanging out with his comrades or mostly anyone who don't mind his company. He also values trusts and can be extremely loyal when befriended. In combat, he mostly plays it safe and picks his battles. Even though he uses the GYRO assault type, he's usually defensive and only goes out in full-force when he finds an opening. He's also not above using underhanded tactics. History Dallan was born in the United States and grew up in poverty. He never knew his father and his mother died in a hit-and-run accident when he was 13. He was then sent to an orphanage in another state and spent the rest of his childhood there. He joined the US army as a GYRO pilot after graduating from highschool. His reason for enlisting was because of his fascination with GYRO and GEAR weaponry and to travel and see the world. He even dreams of going to space after retiring from service and spend the rest of his life there in one of the space colonies. It was nothing grand or ambitious but it wasn't a bad dream. He saw very little combat during his time in the army due to the five Mediterranea nations' new discreet way of warfare and their heavy reliance on VALVES. One day his unit was assigned to guard a visiting US senator and his staff somewhere in Northern Africa, a country rife with Anti-US sentiments. They were on their way back to the airport when they were ambushed by a terrorist insurgent group and things quickly went from bad to worse. The senator was killed and not only that his new captain, a bonafide REMF (Rear Echelon Mother Fucker or someone who has no front-line or combat experience), panicked and escaped on his own, leaving them to die as waves and waves of hostiles swarmed them. Dallan barely escaped with his life and members of his unit were either dead or MIA. He didn't bother reporting back after realizing he won't have any future in the US army and never returned to the States even when he had the chance. He stayed in Africa and spent eight months behind enemy lines, surviving and doing all kinds of odd jobs. He then met an Albanian arms dealer who was impressed with his piloting and took him to Europe where he worked as a mercenary for mob bosses and would-be war lords for five years. He mostly did protection detail and the usual grunt work but there was plenty of action that helped him hone his skills and the pay was good. Dallan pretty much gave up on his dream of going to space and is satisfied with his new life as a dog until one day he encountered a group of PHANTOM mercenaries who killed one of his criminal bosses before he could pay him. A classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the mercs tried to take him out too, thinking he's part of the criminal boss' organization. Technically he does a few jobs for him but he's not exactly a member of their fun little club who deals with extortion, murder and slavery. Truth be told, he's pretty neutral about these kinds of things so he doesn't really care who his employer is and how rotten they are. He just goes where the money is. Realizing reasoning and negotiating with this group was out of the question, Dallan had no choice but to fight back and at least try to shake them off his tail. He managed to outwit them for a moment, disabling three of his pursuers but he was still only one man operating a beat-up GYRO and he was easily cornered. Thinking it's the end of the line, he just lighted a cigarette and accepted his fate but the one leading the group suddenly ordered his men to stand down and then ordered Dallan to disembark from his GYRO. Dallan, having no choice, complied and raised his arms in surrender as he walked towards the group. The leader also disembarked and met with him face-to-face. He then pulled out his gun and ordered Dallan to introduce himself. Panicking, Dallan did more than that. After telling him his name, he desperately explained that he was just some two-bit mercenary and not really part of the mobster's criminal empire but he slowly realized that it was a futile attempt and just trailed off to a mumble mid-way. The mercenary just gave me him a funny look and chuckled. Dallan, feeling a little insulted, shouted at the man to stop dicking around and just get it over with. Just shoot him right between the eyes and move on. The mercenary then noticed his US army dogtags and lowered his weapon, smiling and absolutely looking very pleased with himself. He then revealed that he's also a recruiter and invited Dallan to join PHANTOM, surprising him and even the other PHANTOM mercs who were watching the whole exchange. The recruiter was impressed with Dallan's piloting skills and he even admitted that he managed to give them a hard time during the chase. PHANTOM needs men like him, people with such resourcefulness and fighting spirit. Dallan quickly apologized and declined his invitation. He told him, with a smug look on his face, that he's not interested because he was never really comfortable with VALVES. To him VALVES are no different from regular PMCs, they're just more commercialized with better funding, shiny new toys and flamboyant bosses. The recruiter laughed and told him that he won't take no for an answer, especially when he finds someone as amusing as Dallan. He then rubbed his hands and thought of something that would make him interested: he challenged him to a bet. If he defeats Dallan in a GYRO duel (with non-lethal weapons) then he will join PHANTOM but if he loses then he gets to walk away with a shiny new GYRO and 50 thousand dollars in cash. He told him he'd be an idiot if he passed up on this once-in-a-lifetime offer and Dallan, after much thought, agreed to the challenge because of the ridiculous but delicious reward and not to mention he didn't get his paycheck because of this man. They agreed to meet up the next day and the recruiter even threatened to hunt him down and kill him if he didn't show up. And so they met the next day and the VALVE recruiter beat him without breaking a sweat. Humiliated and defeated, Dallan tried to create a distraction so he can make a run for it but the recruiter did something that caught him off-guard: he still gave him the GYRO and cash anyway even if he won the bet. Dallan just stood there scratching his head, baffled and somewhat amused. The recruiter then told him that he's just wasting his skills on common criminals and still continued to convince him to join. He insisted that PHANTOM is at least different from the other VALVES and that it's the perfect group for people like him. People who abadoned or were abandoned by their nations and just move from battlefield to battlefield until they meet their end and die like the dogs they are. He then explained about their history, ideals and philosophy with such passion that Dallan just burst out laughing and shook the man's hand, calling him an idiot. He finally gave in and accepted the offer. He still doesn't buy it but if PHANTOM is willing to hand GYROS and money to shmucks like him just like that then this group might actually be interesting or crazy. And with that he joined PHANTOM. Plot (ignore) GYRO specs This is what decides your actual combat strength. The categories below are for listing your parts. In the beginning your parts will be the basic models. However, as the RP moves along and you accumulate money from missions, you will gain the ability to buy more advanced and high quality parts from the part shop. Internal Parts Pulse Generator: PIN-01-TURBINE Booster(s): PIN-00-SEAGULL Pulse Barrier: XIC-00-SPHERE PT(s): TRE-00-ID Radiator: BOW-00-RADICAL Utility: NA Armor Parts CORE: BOW-00-AC ARMS: XIC-00-MUBYOSHI LEGS: TRE-00-RGS Head: NID-00-SKULL Weapon Right ARM Weapon(s): Left ARM Weapon(s): CORE Weapon(s): Back Unit(s): LEG weapon(s): Relationships *(if you want your character to have a past related to another character, please say so here. This is for how your character sees other characters.) Trivia *He loves reading horror novels but is scared of watching horror movies for some weird reason. *Has a strange obsession with pandas and has a secret stash of panda plushies somewhere in his room. *He's actually a great cook but he's just too lazy to work in the kitchen. *His favorite food is spicy beef ravioli. *He owns ten similar-looking bomber jackets. He also has a custom one with a panda emblem but never wears it in public. *Dallan's Theme Category:Characters